A $50 million thank-you to vets
Posted by StormWarning on 29 Jan 2007 at 08:44 am | Tagged as: Current Affairs, Opinions
It was only about one year ago when I posted about the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and used a lead line, "This is about the War on Terrorism and the men and women who have been
fighting it for all of us. This is about the men and women who have
survived the battles and been seriously injured."
Today in San Antonio is the dedication of the $50 million rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center. Its quite an accomplishment. And despite the luminaries coming to our town for the ceremony (Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senators McCain and Clinton, as well as Denzel Washington, Rosie O’Donnell and John Mellencamp and maybe even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Michelle Pfeiffer), the true stars of the event of course are the soldiers.
It took only 14 months for this facility to be built. As construction workers toiled at a breakneck pace for some 14 months to finish the cutting-edge facility on time, they kept thinking about the wounded.
"That was a big emotional mover for the job," said Dean Poillucci, vice president of Skanska USA Building, construction manager on the project.
About 1,000 tradesmen helped with the center, which took 325,000 man-hours to build.
"This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a facility for the people in our armed services," he said. "The challenges were many, and it took a lot of long days and long hours, but we knew what it was for."
Remember that it was built with PRIVATE funding. Some people, including Paul Begala, Democratic Party guru and former adviser to President Clinton, said the center, which will be staffed by Veterans Affairs and Defense Department medical workers and therapists, should’ve been funded with public dollars.
"It is an obscenity that a government that can find billions in no-bid contracts for Halliburton and trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy cannot find a few million dollars to bind up the
wounds of its heroes," he said.
Frankly, I agree! But what truly matters is that the facility exists.
Related stories from the San Antonio Express:
- Private Rx for rehab
- Vets rehab center celebrates 2 accomplishments
- Public help sought for housing for families of recovering GIs
- Wounded troops, families to get new hope and aid
There are a few other stories relating to the dedication, but this is a San Antonio story. Its a proud day for America’s Military City.
Current Affairs, Opinions
This sounds like a wonderful thing. It just proves that we don’t have to sit around and wait for the Federal Government to ‘give’ us funds for a worthy project. If Americans see something as worthy, they will gladly ‘give’ their money to that project and see it through to the end.
People seem to forget that the Government HAS NO MONEY OF IT’S OWN. The only money they have is OUR money, taken from us in the form of taxation.
Everyone knows the government is lousy at budgeting, spending, accountability. The government should be limited, small, and stick to what it was intended, mainly keeping America safe.
Private groups like this have proven time and time again how much better they are on projects like this.
Just my opinion